The Life of Doctor Jason Imbartan
by LeaderOfTheRoyalGuard
Summary: Meet Doctor Jason Imbartan, the eldest Imbartan brother. His family brutally murdered, his friends slaughtered like animals and two mysterious men in suits, one with seven mouths and one with no mouth at all, jerking him around like a toy. All for what? The young man with the blue skin with the gas mask? Or some higher destiny...?


I walked into the hospital an hour early as per the normal day. My bag was weighed down a little with the large story book that I always carried around. I waved at the receptionist, Deborah, I think was her name. Pushed the up button and waited for the elevator, stepping inside once it arrived and pressed the floor ten button. I was heading up to room 1039 to visit the one constant patient I always had visited for the past year.

The hallway was empty and the nurse's station on this floor only had one nurse. Patient 1039 was the only patient on this floor. The only reason he was given the room he was was because it was the closest to the nurse's station in case something were to happen, but in the past year nothing had. The nurse smiled up to me before looking back down at her computer and I could see that she was playing Solitaire. Chuckling softly to myself I walked into the patient's room and pulled the chair up next to his bed.

"Hello, Spike," I said. Pulling out the story book from my bag. "What do you want to listen to today?" I looked at the pale blue-skinned young man laying on the bed. He had a good amount of wires and tubes extending from his body but the few that were the most noticeable were the ones coming off his mask and hadn't been put there by anyone from the hospital.

Patient 1039 was found barely alive laying in a snow-filled ditch. His skin had turned a blue-ish hue and had only continued to get darker as time went on. But his vitals were constant and he didn't seem to be getting any worse. The mask that I spoke about covered from his nose down to his chin and was fused with the flesh. It had blue tubes that extended out from it with the ends frayed, as if they had been torn from something else. He didn't have trouble breathing though so we didn't try to surgically remove it when he was found and no one cared enough about the poor boy now to even give it a second thought.

I was the only one who visited Spike, named that because one of the older patients swore that he was her son from back in 1934 who had passed away back then. I came here everyday an hour before my shift to read him a story. I found that as I read him stories his vitals would change. His heart rate would increase or he would begin breathing just a little faster or slower depending on the story. I had found this occurrence on accident when I had came into this room to get away from the work for a little while and poured out the story of my mother and father's passing and losing my brothers to their adventures in alternate realities. About how I only had my wife, Sammy, and our son, Luke, left. As the tears and words streamed from me I heard the heart monitor begin speeding up and looked down to see his chest moving in shorter and quicker breaths.

I brought a book the next day to see if I could get the same reaction or any reaction at all from him. After I did I brought books every day and read him a story. I paid the hospital to keep him here because I hoped one day maybe I'd be able to help him heal if I could just keep connecting to the conscious part of his brain.

I read him a short horror story about a woman hunted by the ghost of the daughter she had drowned in a fit of rage. Horror seemed to be his favorite as it calmed him, but got one of the bigger reactions as his hands would clench and his body tense during the more frightening parts of the story.

"Rest well, Spike. I'll see you tomorrow." I put the book into my bag and began to leave the room, but not before looking back at Patient 1039, sitting quietly on the abandoned floor in the empty wing. "Come back soon, kiddo." I closed the door behind me and my phone buzzed. I checked it to see a text from Doctor Cummins.

"Get the fuck down here! NOW!" I charged towards the elevator and pushed the down button. Drew was usually a calm man, telling me when I needed to clock in, or clocking me in himself. I don't know what could have pushed him to type a message like that. The elevator reached the bottom floor and the doors opened to a gruesome sight. There were hundreds of men and women on stretchers being wheeled into the service elevators. I got a good glimpse of one. Her eyes were missing and black and deep red liquid poured from her eyes and mouth. Her skin was pale white like that of a corpse, but she was breathing and clearly alive. The rest looked exactly the same, I noticed as I walked through the throng of them to get to Drew.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked as I walked up behind him.

"We don't know. Suddenly these people just dropped to their knees throughout the city and..." He gestured to one of the people on the stretchers. "This. No one has any idea what happened and none of these victims seems to be alive enough to answer any questions."

"What's the shit coming out of their eyes and mouths?"

"Don't know. Looks like it could be blood, but I don't think that's all. This looks like a pandemic Jason. We need to get them all quarantined. We need the tenth floor. Can we move the boy down to nine or something?"

"Yeah. I'll go handle it. Just text me what room I can put him in, okay?" He nodded and I ran back to the visitor elevator and headed back up to Spike's room. "Spike we're going to move you down to..." I was cut off as I entered the room when I saw that the bed was empty. I backed out of the room and checked the number. 1039. But Spike was gone. I turned to the nurse, who was still on her computer with her back turned to me.

"Joanna, did someone already come and take Spike down to nine?" She didn't answer or even turn to look at me. "Joanna?" As I moved to the nurse's station to see if she was okay my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and looked at the text.

"They're moving! Jason, get out of the hospital! These things are like zombies!"

"What?" I asked the phone out loud. I heard movement in front of me and looked up to see Joanna turning around in her chair to face me with her empty sockets and oozing orifices. "Shit shit shit shit!" I grabbed one of the other chairs in the nurse's station and slammed it into her skull as hard as I could manage. She fell on the floor and didn't move anymore. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" I ran to the elevator and headed down, but didn't quite make it as the lift screeched to a stop on floor six. The door opened and I was faced with... an empty hallway. I peeked out and looked up and down the corridor to see nothing. As I stepped out I heard a loud SNAP and turned to see the elevator plummet to the bottom of the shaft.

"The fuck is going on?" I asked the air around me. I would have to use the stairs down the hallway. The long, seemingly empty hallway. Why did that seem like a bad idea? I turned and started my way past the rooms, all the doors were open and the beds were empty. There was a branching hallway coming up and I pressed myself against the corner so I could peek around and make sure I was safe to move on.

Before I could even look I heard a loud clanging and banging coming from back towards the elevator shaft. Almost like they were spawning out of it the creatures crawled from the opening and began running, crawling, clawing their way along the ceiling in my direction. I freaked out and started moving to run to the staircase, but a body slammed into mine and flung me across the hallway. I had one of the monster things looking at me with its empty eyes and I could hear it growling as it seemed to sniff me. Once it seemed satisfied with whatever it was doing it screeched loudly and reared back its head, opening its mouth wide and readying itself to bite me.

"No!" I heard a loud voice echo from behind the monster. It stopped and turned to face back behind it before climbing off of me and moving away. I looked to my left to see what seemed like hundreds of these things staring at me, waiting to kill me when they were given the chance. I looked right to see the way to the staircase was clear, but I didn't think I could make it. My only option left was to see where that voice had come from. Standing up, I looked straight ahead of me.

There stood a tall man, probably about ten or eleven feet. He wore an impossibly dark suit. But the suit had moving parts of red that soon became clear to be bloodied mouths, all mumbling incoherently. I counted six as they shifted around the clothing. The man's eyes were empty, much like the creatures, save for there was no blood. His mouth had sharp teeth lining it, each with a faint hint of maroon on them. Blood stained.

"Wh-Who are you?" I asked, trying, but failing, to keep the fear from my voice.

"It matters not who I am, Doctor Imbartan. It only matters if you decide to help me." He answered, his words seemed to flow as if spoken by several overlapping speakers. "I am looking for a patient at this hospital. A very dangerous patient. A man with blue skin and black eyes."

"He's n-not here anymore," I answered. I didn't think it wise to lie to whatever this thing was.

"Are you lying to me Doctor?" His voices were cool and collected. He was in no rush.

"No... He disappeared before these things," I motioned to the monsters. "Began attacking people."

"Any idea where he could have gone?"

"N-no. He was unconscious until today."

"Well then. I have no use for this hospital. Thank you Doctor Imbartan. Pray you'll never see me again." He turned and before I could say another word he snapped his fingers and was gone in a puff of smoke. I heard growling all around me and watched as the monsters began to look around like something was coming for them and without warning they exploded into blood and giblets, knocking me flat on my ass.

I stood, soaked from head to toe in blood and guts, ankle deep in the warm, viscous liquid. I cursed under my breath and walked to the stairs, opening the door and wetting the way down in red goo. Taking care not to slip and fall I made my way to the first floor where I was greeted with even more gore and the army. I wasn't the only one who got out of the hospital, thankfully, but we were few and far between. Only about fifty out of the three hundred patients and staff got out alive.

We were sent through tox screening, blood analysis and the like to make sure we weren't infected with anything. But they found that the infected blood was no different than normal and assumed that if we weren't eyeless, inhuman freaks by now we were clean and free to go.

It was about six pm when my wife pulled up in the car. It had only been ten hours since she had dropped me off that morning to my normal day. Now she picked up a man who would never not have nightmares. Who would most likely stay up late into the nights tossing and turning, reaching and praying for dreamless sleep.

"Daddy, are you okay?" I heard my son, Adam, from the backseat.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired and hungry," I answered.

"It's the second friday of the month! Meatloaf night!" Adam reminded me. Rena was a fantastic cook and her most amazing dish was meatloaf. That sounded fucking wonderful after the day I had.

We sat quietly at dinner, our normal chatter diminished by the fact that I would usually start with my day and we'd all trade off. It was about ten minutes in before Adam began ranting about how his day had gone. He told us about how he had swung really high on the swing set during first recess and almost fallen, which he thought was amazing and funny. We laughed to encourage him, of course. He also told us about how he had been in class when the police and firetrucks had driven by. And how about half an hour later there was a tank going through the streets towards the hospital and he had been worried about me.

Finally the question was asked.

"Daddy. What happened at the hospital? Did people die?"

I put my fork down and stared at the food in front of me. Suddenly I was sickened and couldn't figure out what to say. The tears began to pool and I had to shut my eyes to hold them back. That hospital and its staff were like my family. Even before Nick and Will went off on their fucking idiotic adventures. Before mom and dad had passed on. These people were just as much family as my own blood was. And they were almost all gone... Thanks to that man in the suit.

"Honey, why don't you go get washed up and ready for bed?" I heard Rena tell Adam.

"Alright, Mommy." I heard his feet patter off, the dog in toe.

"Jason, are you alright?" Rena's hand was soft and warm on my shoulder, even through my shirt.

"Honey... They all died... I watched them die... I..." I couldn't continue and broke down into sobs. Her embrace was welcoming and I knew I was free to let my emotions go. I cried hard for a few minutes before I felt another embrace. Adam was hugging my side, his tears soaking my side. I pulled him close and we all cried together.

Me, Adam and Ritz, our dog, went outside to play some fetch before bed. Those two hadn't been separable since we brought Ritz home four months ago. It's like Adam had someone to care for and love. Someone he could always be best friends with when times got hard, which for him they did a lot. Constantly bullied and insulted at school it was nice for him to come home and have someone who would play with him and give him the friendship he required.

Once they were both significantly tired out I called them both back inside and got Adam dressed for bed. I laid him down and tucked him in and took one of the fairy tale books off the shelf beside his bed. Funny how this is how my day began. Reading a young man a story. It's almost like the hell hadn't existed. But it had.

Once he was out I turned off his lights and went into my room. Rena was up waiting for me. As I climbed in with her she pulled the blanket over us and held me close, told me she loved me and shut out the light.

I watched their faces explode. All of the people I loved. Their faces distorted and exploded into blood. Soon there was an ocean of death all around me. I couldn't swim in it. It was too thick. But I tried. All I could hear was the weeping of the women and the yelling of the men as they were brutally killed all around me.

A boat pulled up alongside me and there stood two men. The Grim Reaper in his cloak, scythe in hand. And the man in the suit covered in smiling, bloody mouths. They each held out their hands and pushed my head under and I felt the hot innards of my family and friends rush into my lungs and fill me up. Drowning me.

I sat upright, the covers flying off of me. Rena sat up next to me in shock and fear as well.

"Jason, are you okay?"

"I'm..." I scanned the room and my eyes fell on my son standing at the foot of the bed. He looked extremely scared, his arms wrapped around the puppy in his arms. "I'm fine. Adam, are you okay?" He shook his head. "What's wrong?"

"I'm afraid of dying, Daddy." He said, choking back the tears as best he could.

"It's okay son. You're not going to die anytime soon. Come here." I picked him up and put him between us on the bed, covering him in the blanket. Ritz climbed down onto my feet and fell asleep instantly.

"I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, buddy." I kissed his head. "Very much."

"I love you too, Mommy." He was falling asleep now, I could hear it in his voice.

"I love you too, Adam. Go to sleep sweetheart and I'll make you two a special breakfast in the morning."

"Yay!" We both whispered excitedly and laughed. We were all asleep in a few minutes.

I awoke to the sun pouring into the bit of window not covered by curtain. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was about ten am. I was going to be worried that I was late, but I didn't have a job to go back to right now. I just sat up and got dressed, heading into the kitchen. There I smelled cooking... something.

The only thing that was on was the stove where I saw a pan with some chunks of meat in it, simmering and sizzling. I started to leave the room when I heard the toaster pop and turned to see that instead of bread it was two small hands. Too small to be Rena's... but small enough to be Adam's.

Panic surged through me as I started throwing all of the doors in the house open. All the rooms were empty and I started to panic worse. But as I threw Adam's door open I was faced with a horrific sight. On the wall, painted in blood was the words "You lied to me Daddy." Adam's corpse hung from chains and hooks on the ceiling, his throat slit and his face contorted into a look of fear. His hands were cut off and I knew exactly where they were.

"Rena!" I screamed as I opened every other door. Hoping that my wife was okay and hadn't met the same fate as our son. The bathroom was where I found her. Chained up in the same fashion above the bathtub. Same expression. Throat slit. I fell to my knees and began to bawl. My mind was breaking now and I couldn't think of anything else to do besides get her off the chains.

Once I had her and Adam set in the living room I found the sharpest knife I could in the kitchen and brought myself back into the room. I couldn't go on living without them. Not like this. I put the blade to my throat, feeling the life-stealing cold steel on my red-hot flesh...

There was a man in a suit watching through my window. Not the one from the hospital, but a different one. I felt my head grow fuzzy and knew it was his fault. I threw the knife at the man, but it bounced off the window. I collapsed, no longer able to hold myself up. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was my wife and son. Their faces no longer contorted in fear, but now in the peaceful, closed-eyed faces of death.


End file.
